Last week we got our first significant snow of the season. We’d been enjoying unseasonably warm weather for most of December and January, while at the back of our minds we worried about our landscaping that needs a blanket of snow to survive until next spring.
Mr and Mrs Cardinal dine together at our windy, snowy, deck railing.
A definite benefit of being retired is that we don’t have to worry about commuting to work in a blizzard. If we don’t want to go out we don’t go out. It’s just one great perk of getting older.
A little chickadee tries to warm up with some suet.
Sometimes we forget there are benefits to aging.
Two female European starlings unsuccessfully try to share what’s left of the suet.
Anyway, I digress.
After days of warning from the pessimistic weather folks the storm hit us very early on Friday. First there was rain, then ice, then snow.
A male downy woodpecker impatiently waits his turn.
Early Friday, while taking the dog out for her morning ritual and stepping carefully down the icy driveway in the dark, we noticed a neighbor mincing his way down the street with his dog.
Mrs Cardinal desperately tries to figure out how to get to the suet.
Of course we went out to road to talk. Penny got to kiss Oliver, (the dog) who is somewhat besotted with her. The neighbor said there were some trees down up the road. I said I hadn’t looked out back yet.
A blue jay uses his tail for balance in the wind.
As the morning filled with light I saw that we, too, had some bending trees, some limbs down, the typical damage we usually sustain in an ice storm. I sighed. Little by little our birch trees are coming to the end of their lives.
A chickadee launches after his meal.
We’ve lived here over 30 years, I guess it’s expected. Nothing lives forever, right?
A disgruntled goldfinch.
Throughout the weekend the snow came down, blowing sideways from the northeast. We made very limited trips outside, only for doggie necessities.
Mrs.Redbelly shows off her pink tummy.
Mostly I sat in my chair with a view of a couple of our birdfeeders, watching the frenzy. And eventually, over the weekend, I got a few shots of the birds frantically eating, puffed up, trying to stay warm.
You can see the purple and green in her feathers.
I had to fill all the feeders, the thistle, the oiler, the peanut, the suet, at least twice a day. I even spread extra oilers on the deck railing, and under our rocking chairs that are turned upside down for the winter.
The colors on the back of the blue jay are beautiful too.
Little birds, and bigger birds too, were everywhere. As the food ran out they waited anxiously in the trees, coming down to wait closer as soon as I’d step out the backdoor. My birds know I’ve got their backs.
Even the dark eyed junco, who usually likes to eat on the ground, was hungry enough to try the twirling suet feeder.
And I know you’ve all seen photos of my birds at the feeders before. So in this post I tried to show you more unusual shots, a little attitude, a bit of wing.
It was a busy, windy, weekend!
I feel very lucky to be able to sit in my chair by the window and watch the entertainment happening just on the other side of the glass.
A week from Tuesday is Facebook’s Giving Tuesday. I’ll be putting up a fundraiser for the Truck Safety Coalition like I have for the past few years.
This year feels different than past years where I’ve promoted an upcoming Giving Tuesday off an on for a few weeks. This year there are other things going on in my life and Giving Tuesday has kind of snuck up on me.
Heck the whole holiday season has snuck up on me.
Regardless, I know many of you will support my effort to raise some funds for the Truck Safety Coalition. (If you didn’t read this post about our latest fundraiser, please give it a look.) You’re so good that way, supportive of an issue most people can’t imagine ever touching their own family.
That’s how we felt too, until it did.
I feel like a broken record when I say over and over that truck crashes are indiscriminate. They happen to people in all parts of the country, in every community, every religion, every political viewpoint. Young people, old people, people with kids. People’s kids. Nobody is immune.
So, next week, on Giving Tuesday, please take a moment and think about all of us in the Truck Safety family, a family we never wanted to join, but a family we’re all so very grateful to have found.
Sadly there have been new families joining us this year, people we need to comfort and support. Your dollars do that.
Thank you for supporting my mission to help those families, and to work on changing the way things are on our roads.
And thank you for supporting me, even when I’m on my soapbox.
Spreading the word.
Note: images in today’s post are from my last walk at Shiawasee Nature Preserve. I haven’t had time to share them with you, and I thought you’d like the distraction from such a serious topic.
Thank you all for sharing your Walktobers with us! It’s been an honor to be the keeper of your walks this season. I loved every one of them and I know you will too!
I thought we should start with Robin from Breezes at Dawn since she’s been the host for our wonderful Walktobers for so many years. She and her husband traveled through Pennsylvania and stopped to get a little hiking in. Her pictures are, as always, just stunning.
Then we had Elisa visit from her blog Elisa’s Spot who shared lovely images from one of her walks, both in color and in black and white. She made me stop and think because I’ve never thought about doing black and white images in the fall. But it worked so well on her post, I think it’s something I should try.
And here’s Penny, my young sheltie, from my own Change is Hard with her over zealous Walktober where she shares three walks she went on in one week! She was only 10 months old when she did her Walktober, and she managed to go further than I did at 6 decades plus! She’s going to be a handful, this one, when she grows up!
Next we have Monkey, another sheltie, writing on his mom Debbie’s blog Musings. He did his walk with his mom and took us to the Douglas-Hart Nature Center on a beautiful day. They had quite a lot of fun exploring the trails with Halloween decorations and pretty flowers enhancing the fall foliage there.
And Frank shares a post on his blog, Beach Walk Reflections, about his walk on the beach and into the woods, with stunning photos of both.
Shelly, from Quaint Revival, took us on walk down memory lane as she shared images from her past. Check it out, there’s surely something in there that will make you smile.
Debbie, from Musings of a ND Domer’s Mom, went for a walk without her Monkey and took us to Whiteside Garden in Charleston, Illinois. There she saw many beautiful things, including sculptures and blooming flowers along with wonderful fall color.
Next up is Linda, from Walkin’ Writin’, Wit & Whimsy, who loved the concept of Walktober and decided to share photos from one of her favorite places, Council Point Park, where she introduces us to some of her favorite squirrels!
Then Barbara, from In the Woods, takes us on a walk at the Carolina North Forest trail system, in North Carolina. There she found light even in the deepest woods and she shares it with us all.
Frank, from Beach Walk Reflections, takes us on another walk on the beach. He likes to ponder as he walks, and this time he was pondering the color brown, which he thought was an odd color to be thinking about on a beach walk, but he has some stunning photos to help us all appreciate the color.
Then Penny, being the overly controlling dog that she is, reminded us not to forget, and just to put us all to shame, she did another Walktober!
Jo posts in her blog, Still Restless Jo, about her exploration of Castelnaudary in rural France. She and her husband walked the canal path and saw beautiful boats navigating through the locks there. If you read the post following her Walktober post you’ll see even more about Castelnaudary.
Deb at The Widow Badass and her little Bowser take us on a beautiful walk through their woods. They saw all sorts of color. It’s always fun to have a little four-footed adventurer along for the walk.
Diana, from My Life and Horse Stories, shared her birthday with us. The cake looked great! She and her daughter explored Solvang and visited some of their favorite places there.
Helen, from Helen’s Home World, and her dogs, Liam and Teddy went on a walk with a lot of other shelties. Sheltie meet-ups are so much fun! Having many of the shelties in Halloween costumes made this walk even more special.
Dale, from A Delectable Life is up next. She did a couple walks and combined them into her post. Note that at the beginning there was still a lot of green in the trees, but by the end things had pretty much turned to glorious fall colors!
And here comes Linda From The Task at Hand, with her walk in two different areas of Texas. She shares some amazing images of beautiful late summer/fall plants in bloom! What a nice change from all the cold and dropping leaves up here in Michigan!
And lastly, I got my walk in just under the wire, posting about it at Change is Hard. I went down to Hidden Lake Gardens near the Michigan/Ohio state line. I had a wonderful time exploring the garden and my memories of being there as a young child many years ago.
I hope you enjoyed all these walks! I find it fascinating to see different parts of the world, and how we each approach a project like this. We all live in such wonderful places, it’s fun to share them with each other.
I thank you again for taking the time to walk (or run or skip or boat or bike…) and photograph and write about your times in the special places you visited. And thank you for supporting Walktober! It’s a very special tradition that I hope will continue for many years to come! Thank you also to Robin for sharing the concept with us all in the first place!
Images in this post were taken in my yard the day before our Halloween freeze and snowfall. The yard is brown now, but I have these memories to keep me warm.
I know, I know. I’m monopolizing mom’s blog. But she’s kinda slacking off and I think it’s important to remind you to get your Walktober linked up to mom’s official Walktober post so she can do a wrap-up and include everybody’s adventures.
This is the Huron River last Sunday. Isn’t it beautiful?
I think she said she wouldn’t be doing that until sometime in early November, so you have some extra time! I’ll try to get her to put a new end date out there so you know, but in the meantime, don’t wait for her, get outside while the getting is good!
Sometimes mom takes pictures that aren’t me. I think this one is stunning.
I had such a good time on my official Walktober (where I got to go on three walks!!!) that I decided to go on another one! I think it’s a fine plan to go on more than one Walktober, especially since we’ve had such beautiful weather!
I hope you are having beautiful weather too.
We had such a beautiful day.
Last Sunday mom and I went down to Ann Arbor and met a friend and her sheltie, Finn. Finn’s mom was Queen Abby’s mom and my sister Katie and my mom and Queen Abby and her mom used to go on walks together.
Meeting Finn for the first time.
I had never met Finn before but we hit it off right away. He’s 2 years old and a real gentleman. Also he’s very handsome, don’t you agree?
Handsome Mr. Finn.
We walked around Island Park, in the Huron River. It sure was pretty! The trees were just beautiful. Of course that meant the moms wanted pictures of us in front of all of them. Sigh.
We were focused on Finn’s mom who had treats!
Finn and I aren’t experts at this posing yet. It was a challenge, my mom says, to get us both to sit next to each other and at the same time.
She thinks we’re just young.
“OK, here’s the deal. When they get us all set up for a picture, you get up. Then the next time I’ll get up.”
In reality Finn and I discussed it and decided we weren’t going to cooperate entirely, after all the moms shouldn’t get what they want without paying up.
Right? Right!!
“Or….we can just make sure we’re not both looking at them at the same time.”
Luckily for us Finn’s mom brought yummy treats and he shared them with me. I admit I am something of a treat hog. I actually stole quite a few treats that were meant for him.
I think Finn really wanted this treat, but I’m pretty sure I ended up with it.
It was 42 degrees and windy while we were there. Finn and I thought that was just about perfect, but the moms were cold. Not our fault, moms, that you didn’t plan very well. Next time you should wear a heavier coat, like us.
A little wind in our fur felt good.
After we walked around the island a few times, dragging the moms over bridges and through the woods, the moms decided they were cold and tired and we had to go. Finn and I weren’t cold or tired at all.
“Let’s go see what’s on the other side of the river!”
I protested at leaving, so mom said we’d stop at another park on our way home. Turns out we stopped at her favorite park (go figure) and she took me to a part of the park she always took my sister to in the fall.
“So…my sister Katie always sat here for you?”
But it was Sunday and the park was busy and there were too many dogs there, so she took me to a new spot she’d never explored before. It was beautiful!
“This is pretty cool, mom!”
She said she was very very pleased by how good I was, posing for her and coming when I was called. She said as long as no other dogs were around she’d trust me to sit further away from her. I told her not to worry, I was laser focused on her. And her treat bag.
The light was especially nice in the woods.
When we finally got home I crashed for a long nap. I sure had fun with Finn and I hope the moms can find a fenced in place so we can play together. We’re about the same size and we really wanted to play off leash.
It’s exhausting being a sheltie at my house.
Anyway, that’s my second Walktober post, I really was just supposed to remind you to get out and do your walks before it gets winter cold! But I couldn’t resist sharing this walk with you.
Some trees at mom’s favorite park on Sunday. Cause this is a Walktober after all.
The trees were beautiful and I wanted you all to enjoy the wonderful day Finn and I had together!
“Hey Penn, want to go grab lunch later?”
Talk later.
Your Walktober-girl,
Penny.
PS: Thank you to everyone that has already posted their Walktober, human and dogs as well. I delegated keeping track of them all to mom. I hope she’s up for the task. And speaking of mom…when the heck is she going to do her Walktober?! I better get to bugging her!
PPS: I got spayed today, so I’m a little sleepy. I’ll bug her about her Walktober tomorrow.
Change Is Hard 